Traditionally, the “retail holiday” known as Black Friday kicks off the seasonal retail frenzy, with deep discounts on pre- and post-holiday sales.
Stores have long been lambasted for falling victim to discount-induced overconsumption, but a thread on Reddit’s r/mildly infuriating suggested that retailers like Home Depot aren’t exacerbating the problem, but cheating consumers.
Photo credit: Reddit
“Black Friday Deals at Home Depot” was the innocuous title of the post, but the attached image told a different story.
It featured a standard retail endcap stacked with Ridgid 18V SubCompact Brushless 2-Tool Kits, seen on sale for $139, about 30% off the reported original price of $199.
However, a fixed price tag under a “Black Friday” promotional sign indicated that before the “sale,” the Ridgid drill kit was priced at $119—a nearly 20% price increase over the “sale.” It’s unclear if the $119 price was put in place before the tariffs, but the effect still struck a nerve on Reddit.
Unfortunately, deceptive “sales” are not uncommon among big-box retailers. Amazon’s Prime Day sales are notorious for similar fluctuations, and Target has been caught in the act.
It should be noted that Amazon, at least, now has a “price history” tool displaying 90 days of records for logged-in users under its prices, and all indications are that it is accurate and shows when an item was previously priced higher. Yet, without access to that information, Amazon and other retailers typically display current-moment sales as if they can’t miss prices when they might be happy to sell a product for a better price just a day or month ago.
It makes some sense for a business to test prices and never advertise a price that’s worse than the current one, but from a shopper’s point of view, unbelievable sales pricing — especially as prices of essentials like food and electricity go up — with the added insult of effectively taxing shoppers while trying to maximize dollars — can shock people.
Amidst volatile pricing, it is more difficult for consumers to know what to value. In turn, misleading sales can prompt cash-strapped customers to buy more in a futile attempt to stay ahead of rising costs. Or, at the very least, when advertising inundation causes a “fear of missing out” effect, sales can increase for items that people don’t really need or use enough to justify the purchase.
The end result is often more unnecessary construction, more waste, and more unwanted, unused goods in our overflowing landfills. Pollution occurs at every step of the process, but landfill waste is a major source of planet-warming gases.
In short, this destructive cycle is terrible for consumers and devastating for the planet, often bad for a business’s long-term reputation when it comes to customer trust, and on that note, Reddit users were worried by the strategy.
“Sometimes the magic spell will break [so] People realize that nothing is a good deal,” said one.
“Take a picture of the old sticker and I promise you they’ll give you a good price,” advised another. Some retailers have policies to match competitors’ current sale prices, but The Cool Down could not prove that Home Depot would price-match its own past prices. That may depend on the discretion of the store manager.
this “[predatory] The practice needs to be outlawed,” replied a third.
As for the Ridgid drill kit, as of publication time, it currently retails for the same low price of $139 at HomeDepot.com.
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